Homily for Easter Sunday, 2022
Children’s Homily
I’ve got a question for the young zoologist here. What does a caterpillar become? [a butterfly] Right! And when does it become a butterfly? [When it goes into its cocoon.] God made the caterpillar/butterfly to teach us something very important. Because of the butterfly, we have an idea of what it will be like for us when we die. We were just out in the Garden this morning before the service, right? What did we put on top of the grave outside? [a big stone] Well, we are kind of like the caterpillar, and when we die our graves are kind of like a cocoon. Have you seen a graveyard? There are a lot of graveyards here in Marietta. Sometime soon, Jesus is going to come back. He is going to come back in the same way that He went away to Heaven. Do you remember how He went up into Heaven? [on a cloud] Right! He rode on a cloud. When Jesus comes back, all the people in all the graves will be raised up alive! It won’t be a scary, creepy thing. It will be a glorious thing, kind of like when a butterfly comes out of a cocoon.
St. John once said, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” When Jesus comes back, we are not going to look like a butterfly. We really don’t know what we will look like exactly, except that you will still be you. You will still be human. You will actually still have your body, but it will be different somehow. More glorious. That body won’t ever get sick and die. It won’t get tired. St. Paul talks about this same thing. “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”
So, even though dying can be scary, and graveyards can be spooky, there is really nothing to fear. You belong to Jesus and He has big plans for you, plans to bless you and not to harm you. He is working in you now, He will work in you then. And because He was risen from the dead, we can be confident that we will be, too. Amen.
Adult Homily
Most of you were up late last night at the Great Vigil, so this will be a lot shorter than usual. While it is true that a transformation will take place at the return of Christ, we also know that this transformation is already taking place, even before we enter the cocoon of the grave. Our Epistle this morning is from Colossians 3. If we continue reading, St. Paul says, “…cast off the old self with its evil deeds, and put on the new, which is being refashioned unto knowledge according to the image of its creator.” Which is being refashioned is in the present continuous tense. Meaning it is already happening. God is doing His transforming work right now! Though of course we are not at all able to do this mysterious work ourselves, this is not a passive work on our part. We have a role to play. We are to participate by “casting off the old self with its evil deeds, and put on the new.”
Like the caterpillar, there is a shedding of old flesh, old habits, old sins. That part, we understand pretty well. But just in case, St. Paul gave us two lists of what represents the “evil deeds” of our “old self”. What is much more difficult to comprehend is what it means to “put on the new", but this action is just as much a part of living out our future glory as the "putting off the old self”.
What does it mean to put on the new? We have our clue in the text, which is being refashioned unto knowledge according to the image of its creator. It is no doubt that our Creator here referenced is Jesus Christ. This new self that we are put on is in His image. And what is His image? Well, morally, He is perfect. So we should like like that. Relationally, He lives in constant Communion with the Father. So that is part of our new self that we are to put on. But perhaps more than anything, it is the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus that gives us His “image”. This is the clearest image of not only what Jesus does, but of who Jesus is. Therefore, the Passion of Jesus provides the image of who we are being transformed into, the blueprint of our new self, like the pattern marvelously drawn on the wings of a butterfly.
What is this new self, this new humanity that we are to put on?
It is life-oblation for the sake of others, and total faith that God will raise us up.
It is love unto death for our neighbor, infused with hope that God’s Word is more certain than the grave.
It is the casting of every crown at the feet of God,
the sacrifice of everything that hinders,
the destroying of every idol,
the humbling of ourselves before our brothers and sisters,
the giving away our possessions to the poor,
laying down our vanity and choosing the modesty of inner beauty,
it is befriending the broken and outcast and poor,
it is giving up our comforts for the sake of the lost,
it is becoming a drink-offering poured out for the life of others.
This is the new self which is being refashioned unto knowledge according to the image of its creator.
How do we put on this new self? By participating in the Passion of Jesus Christ. When we do, we will also be partakers in the power of His resurrection in the here and now. We will notice that we are given ghostly strength, irrepressible joy, unexplainable courage, untainted clarity, un-disturbable tranquility, overwhelming gratitude, undoubtable faith, imperturbable magnanimity (say that 10X fast!). [airport walkway?]
This is the new self that we are to put on, and every time we walk in this Jesus pattern of self-gift, self-oblation, we are rejuvenated and transformed by the same Holy Spirit that raised Him from the dead. So that His Resurrection is the power for our presentation transformation, and His vindication is our confidence that every tiny cross that we hoist up and carry in honor of our crucified King will not be wasted. No sacrifice will not be rewarded. Every self-oblation will be received by God as a sweet smelling aroma. Every miniature Passion will bring us closer to and more like the One who says, “Behold, I make all things new.”
So brothers and sisters, let us be an Easter people, knowing what will be true of our bodies in the end, and knowing that there is a Resurrection mystery at work in us even now. And let us go forth from here believing with all our heart that Jesus will raise us up from every cross, every grave, and every act of self-oblation. Amen.